Matsuyama City (松山市)

Matsuyama is the most populous city in all of Shikoku. While it is certainly no Tokyo, my brief time there has already convinced me that it is loads more interesting than To-on suburbia. In truth, it reminded me a lot of my time in Kyoto.

It takes exactly 30 minutes to get from my apartment in To-on City to Matsuyama Station via a two car local train that chugs along at a snail's pace.

This past Sunday, fellow English lecturer Cara and I met our boss in Matsuyama City and spent the day hitting some of the more famous sightseeing spots while running some errands at the same time.

We ate lunch at a super yummy curry restaurant run by an actual family from India. I ordered the fish curry at the four-star spice level (spiciness went up to five-stars). There was a solid heat on the curry so I was not disappointed. In retrospect I could have gone up to five-stars, but I didn't want to lose control of my bodily functions while showcasing manliness in front of my new friends. I didn't regret eating the curry until later that night. We'll just leave it at that.

Every Thursday I will be teaching a private English lesson in Matsuyama, so I am sure I will get to know the city well as I commute back and forth. Matsuyama is one of the few cities left in Japan that still utilizes a street car system for its local transportation.

Two of the most famous sightseeing spots in the city are Matsuyama Castle (松山城) and Dōgo Onsen (道後温泉). We visited both spots, though we did not actually go in and take a bath at Dōgo. I plan to do this later and give a full report!

Ehime Prefecture as a whole is famous for mikan (mandarin orange / satsuma), so it is understandable that one could find mikan products of nearly every variety as far as the eye could see. The bottle of mikan juice I gulped down (called Pon Juice in Japanese) was absolutely delicious. It probably didn't hurt that it was around 90 degrees and I was pouring sweat.

Matsuyama City is also in love with Natsume Sōseki's 1906 novel Botchan, which is appropriate since the story is set in Matsuyama. There were giant plastic character statues from the novel in one outdoor park. I also saw VHS and DVD versions of the various movie and TV adaptations of the book available in shops.

I'm half considering buying the book to read on my train trips into the city. I'll read the chapters as I guzzle bottles of Pon Juice. Somehow it seems like a fitting way to pass the time.

B.E.W.